Son Volt at Revolution

The Reel Civil Rights Film Festival kicked off earlier this week with a panel about the Six Pioneers, the African-American students who desegregated the University of Arkansas School of Law. The event featured George Haley, the only surviving member of the group, and a man who went on to a distinguished career, working with Thurgood Marshall and taking on various roles in seven presidential administrations, including as U.S. ambassador to The Gambia. On Wednesday, activist Annie Abrams was to be honored at an event with keynote speaker Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain activist Medgar Evers. The film fest continues Thursday at 6 p.m. with a screening of "Gideon's Army," which tells the story of three young public defenders and the herculean tasks they face. On Friday at 6 p.m., there will be a showing of the documentary "Medgar Evers: An Unsung Hero." Saturday's screenings start at noon with "Beyond Galilee," which focuses on the Civil Rights movement in Shreveport; "George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire" screens at 3 p.m., and at 6 p.m., there will be a showing of "Central Park Five," which looks at the 1989 case of five young black and Latino men who were wrongly convicted of rape. All of those screenings are free and are at the Historic Arkansas Museum.

THURSDAY 9/26-
SUNDAY 9/29

HOT SPRINGS HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

Various times. Central Theater.
$10-$85.

Horror film buffs here in Arkansas have it pretty good. First came the Little Rock Horror Picture Show, and now there's the new Hot Springs Horror Film Festival, which will bring four days of blood, guts, suspense and screams to the Spa City. The scene of the crime will be the Central Theater, where dozens of short and feature-length films will be screened, including several made right here in Arkansas and many that will be accompanied by Q&A's with some of the films' creators. There are far too many screenings and related events to list here, but Thursday night will see the Arkansas premiere of "Contracted," the new flick from Natural State native Eric England, whose 2011 backwoods slasher "Madison County" was particularly unnerving if you've ever spent much time in Madison County. Check out HotSpringsHorrorFilmFestival.com for the full schedule.

FRIDAY 9/27

DIARRHEA PLANET, THE SO SO GLOS

9 p.m. Stickyz. $8.

Not trying to sound the alarm here or anything, but I think Nashville's Diarrhea Planet just might be going pro on us. Not that that's a bad thing. However it must be noted that there's a serious amount of sheen on their brand-new album, "I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams." It's not just in terms of the production (though it is much, uh, slicker than past material), but the songwriting itself seems a little more, dare I say grown-up? "I'm Rich" has tons of the soaring choruses and triumphant quad-guitar weedly-weedly-weedly-weedlies we've all come to expect from this outfit (check out "Ugliest Son" for a fine example), but there are more serious concerns expressed on this new album than a mere "Ghost with a Boner" drinkin' their beer. Also on the bill: The So So Glos, who were in town a while back opening for Titus Andronicus. They've got a power-pop-punk sound that's refreshing like an ice-cold beer for your ears, or, well, you know what I mean. You should track down their very excellent song "Lost Weekend" — there has never been a better lead-off song for a killer mixtape ever.

SATURDAY 9/28

SON VOLT

9 p.m. Revolution. $17 adv., $20 day of.

By now it's a familiar story: Groundbreaking, critically adored band breaks up because two of the principal egos come to loggerheads (a.k.a. "creative differences"), calling it quits just as they're really starting to take off. Such was the case with Uncle Tupelo, whose Jeff Tweedy went on to form the pop-oriented Wilco and whose Jay Farrar founded the decidedly more country-informed Son Volt. Farrar is one of the real-deal originators of the post-'70s country-rock sound. Along with his previous band's records, Son Volt's debut album, "Trace," is indisputably one of the cornerstones of that sound. Every grizzled, denim-clad songwriter who picked up a guitar to write some earnest alt-country tunes at any point in the last 20 years was inspired by Son Volt whether or not he or she was aware of it. The band's most recent album, "Honky Tonk," might be the purest distillation of Farrar's musical vision: Contemporary country music that's authentic without seeming concerned about authenticity, embracing of its influences without wearing them on its sleeve, confident without being cocky and just really good. Opening the show will be Colonel Ford.

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